Life In A Bubble

One of the many structural weaknesses in the United States' system of government is the presidency itself. Not only is the President the Commander-in Chief (currently in charge of two wars), he is expected to run the executive branch with its 13 independent departments and numerous boards, commissions and committees. All that while performing the ceremonial duties expected of a titular monarch and being hounded day and night by a sensation seeking press that considers a president's choice of snack to be front page news.

(After ordering a tuna melt on 12-grain bread, Obama approached reporters and placed his hand on the shoulder of pool reporter Philip Rucker of The Washington Post, who was scribbling away in his notebook. "You don't really need to write all that down,” Obama (pleaded) said.)

And yet there are major stories that can shape the direction a presidency just waiting for a chance to see the light of day. Take for instance the story broken by Gary Webb about the CIA dealing drugs in order to finance IRAN/CONTRA. The evidence was all sitting right there in the Congressional record. Granted it was buried inside thousands of other documents, but being a conscientious reporter Webb was willing to ignore what the President ate for breakfast and do the painstaking work of uncovering real news. His reward for exposing the laziness, (and in some cases complicity), of his celebrity colleagues at the New York Times and the Washington Post was to be drummed out of the newspaper business. No longer able to work at his chosen profession despite having been awarded a Pulitzer Prize Webb ending up tragically taking his own life.

We know thanks to Carl Bernstein that the CIA has infiltrated every major newspaper and broadcast media in the country. The result has been the virtual blackout of critical news until the damage has been done (see the "Plan for the New American Century" and run up to the Iraq invasion). Many of us, frustrated by the dearth of timely reporting have come to rely on the foreign press to stay current. But like in so many other areas the advent of the 24 hour cable news and the Internet with its ability to instantly project the "sensation of the moment" has left the investigative journalist an endangered specie.

Our more reliable old hands across the Pond warn that, despite the need, we are closing in on an era of no more Gary Webbs.

"Reporters are missing out on stories because they no longer have the time to trawl through parliamentary records, according to The Daily Telegraph’s outgoing political diarist, Jonathan Isaby. Isaby – who is leaving the Telegraph to become co-editor of news blog ConservativeHome – said the “ultra-pressured environment” of a multimedia newsroom meant stories were often going undetected.

“There is now such a daily grind of reacting to events and deadlines all the time – its an ultra-pressured environment,” he told Press Gazette.

“People don’t have the time to look through Hansard [the official parliamentary record] and look at parliamentary questions and answers which so often are the source of so many stories.

“If reporters spent a bit more time looking through Hansard, they’d be surprised by what they might happen across.”

So now instead, when not parroting government propaganda a la Judith Miller, our dedicated reporters are tracking down the Obamas' preferred breed in dogs. Meanwhile here are some of the critical stories you probably did not read in 2008.

Sadly, what Murdoch and his ilk have apparently proven -- cheesiness remains what the public prefers:

"Commander-In-Briefs" By the Daily Mail Reporter

Barack Obama showed off his impressively muscled tummy and a toned pair of pecs while on holiday in Hawaii.

The U.S. president-elect is throwing down something of a challenge by being photographed in his swimming trunks.

Impressive: Barack Obama on holiday in his trunks

However the Mail's full-page in-depth "report" failed to expose Mrs. Obama's preferred choice of fruit. I'm sure you're all dying to know...